Faith in the workplace — Leading With Faith

A CEO and a pastor met over breakfast to discuss faith in the workplace—it sounds like something that could precede a punch line. But in the case of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans CEO Bruce Nicholson and his pastor, the Rev. Vern Christopherson, of Transfiguration Lutheran Church in Bloomington, Minnesota, it’s no joke. They’ve been meeting for more than a year, and the results are fascinating.

The idea to meet began two years ago at the “State of Faith” conference, held in Minneapolis and sponsored by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, during which business leaders and clergy held a dialogue on the critical intersection of faith and business.

“It was obvious to us that clergy and business leaders often talk about faith and business from different perspectives,” says Nicholson. “So we decided to meet for breakfast once a month to explore this subject in greater detail.”

The men chose two books to help guide their discussions. Taking Faith to Work: Next Steps to Christian Discipleship by Paul Minus, and Church on Sunday, Work on Monday by Laura Nash and Scotty McLennan became the centerpieces of their dialogues.

Nicholson and Christopherson were surprised to discover they had more in common than not. “It’s all about painting a picture of the future, aligning the organization around it, and motivating people to achieve results,” says Nicholson. “I don’t care if you lead a Fortune 500 company or a 2,000-member congregation, the leadership issues are the same.”

And yet, both the pastor and the CEO discovered they had certain misconceptions about the other’s work life. “I didn’t realize, when we got into these discussions, how many spiritual issues were at work in the workplace—that was an eye-opener for me,” says Christopherson. Nicholson adds, “I think we got some surprises, once we got into it, about what the real issues were in taking your faith to work.”

As discussion led to deeper exploration of these issues, both men began to look inward and formulate ideas on how to break down the walls between business and religion. Nicholson realized that when people in the business community have a problem at work, they rarely seek counsel from a pastor. And Christopherson agreed. “Most business people are not finding the help in church that they’re looking for…we’re not talking their language,” he says.

Nicholson and Christopherson intend to keep meeting on a regular basis, delving deeper into their discussions of faith and business, but neither are satisfied with just talking. Both agree it is time to take their discussion to the next level.

In January, Christopherson held a sermon series on faith in the workplace. He is also looking at ways to build the concept of finding your Christian calling into the youth education and ministry programs at his church. Nicholson hopes to challenge his Christian colleagues to do the same thing he has done.

“Initiate a conversation with your pastor or a businessperson in your church and get a dialogue started,” he says. “If we’re going to get serious about the way we take our faith to work, we have to be able to talk about it.” —Sarah Asp

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